


Let the Rain Fall Down

by mirilik



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, a lot of rain apparently, i guess bc theres a kid but neither harry nor louis is a dad, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-03-02 20:38:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13326051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mirilik/pseuds/mirilik
Summary: Louis constantly forgets his umbrella while he waits for the bus. Luckily Harry is there to give him shelter.





	Let the Rain Fall Down

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!  
> Have fun reading and please feel free to leave comments or kudos, they would make me really happy :)

It’s a Tuesday in January and the rain is constantly falling down. Louis could have predicted that, with his radio announcing the wet weather and his iPhone app notifying him that he should remember to bring an umbrella along. In fact, it had been raining without even a hint of a break since Sunday night and Louis is slowly asking himself, if he still knows how the sun looks like.

In the end it’s still 8.15am, it’s raining with no end in sight and Louis is perched under a balcony, pressed against the cold brickwall of the building, while he’s waiting for his bus. He’s been so sure that he’s left his umbrella in that cupboard in his hallway, but when he checked it this morning it was only filled with old newspapers. It wouldn’t even have been such a big problem, him leaving his umbrella at home, since the way from his flat to the bus station was only about three minutes by foot. It’s just that sometimes, Louis is not the most organized person on the planet and when his alarm rang this morning, he thought that he had overslept, his tired eyes too blurry to read the time correctly. So he hurried to take a quick shower and grabbed one of these small smoothie-bottles to have as breakfast on the way (his sister once forgot one of these in his fridge and since the expiration date was before either she would be back or he would meet up with her, he decided to have a try, and they taste actually pretty amazing, if one forgot about the horrendous price).

Just after he arrived at the bus stop and checked with an app if the bus would be on time, did he realize that he was about fifteen minutes too early. Which meant a fifteen minute wait in the pouring rain and he was only wearing his winter coat. Sure it could have been worse, since his coat had at least a big and thick hood but he still would have preferred to listen to the rain falling onto his umbrella rather than onto his coat, where the droplets occasionally moved on right towards and over his face. 

He thought about going home, have a quick search for the umbrella and then coming back when it was only five minutes left or so until the bus would come. But he knew right away that he was actually too lazy to do that.

So here he is, feeling a little relieved that there’s not too much wind and that the rain is falling nearly perfectly straight from the sky, so the balcony above his head is actually giving him some shelter. 

He gets his phone out once more and starts scrolling through facebook and tumblr but nothing catches his interests. He texts a good morning into the family group chat to which his mum promptly replies with a _to you too boobear_. He answers with the rolling-eyes emoji and pockets his phone. 

The street in front of him is already bustling with traffic and people hurrying through the rain, most of them holding colourful umbrellas in their hand. Louis continues to watch a particular big umbrella that moves through the crowd until his eyes move over to a young man, who’s carrying a little boy on his shoulders and is walking to Louis’ bus stop. He can’t hold back the smile when he sees that the man his holding a small child’s umbrella over the little boy’s head, the position of his arm reminding Louis a bit of the Statue of Liberty. The boy seems quite content, his little face snuggled into chocolate brown, unruly curls that even from a distance look unfairly soft. 

While Louis’ arm is hurting by just looking at the pair, does the man seem unfazed, moving forward in long strides until he reaches the bus stop. He checks the time table and then moves over to the side, all the while holding up the little umbrella.

And okay, he’s moved right in front of Louis and as if the cute scene alone wasn’t enough to keep Louis’ attention, the long, muscular legs clasped in tight black skinny-jeans and the broad back (which is only accentuated by the tight-fit rain jacket) easily do the rest. Louis can’t stop his eyes from roaming up and down and he feels only slightly bad that he’s obviously checking out the husband or boyfriend of someone, who is standing here with his little son on his shoulders.  
As if the little boy had listened to Louis’ thoughts does he turn his head in that moment and watches Louis with curious eyes. The smile on Louis’ face widens and he lifts his hands to send the boy a little wave to which he responds with a wide grin himself. After that Louis starts his whole routine that he loves to use on his baby siblings, with crossed eyes, tongue sticking out and wiggling his finger as if he wants to tickle them. And it works if the giggling of the little boy is any indication. Louis is so endeared by the pure display of delight that he doesn’t even notice at first, that the young man has turned around and is now watching Louis as well. 

Louis continues for a bit but then his eyes travel down to the young man’s face and he’s actually glad that he’s leaning against that brick wall or otherwise he might’ve just collapsed right then and there. That man is gorgeous. Bright green eyes are watching him, paired with a sharp jawline that seems to be the counterpart of those pink and absolutely soft looking lips, that are stretched into a tiny smile. 

“Ehm, hi,” Louis greets and tries to ignore the blush on his face. 

He sees how the man opens his mouth but in that moment the bus stops in front of them and he turns with a little shrug towards the doors. 

He doesn’t like to admit it, but Louis is actually so in awe that he nearly forgets to move to the bus as well. When he’s finally inside and able to put down the hood of his coat are the young man and the little boy in the far back of the bus already and too many people between them and Louis for him to ask what the young man wanted to say a minute ago. He tries to not be disappointed, because that would just be utterly ridiculous.

**  
The umbrella is gone. Someone must have stolen it. Otherwise Louis can’t explain the sudden missing of a perfectly fine umbrella. 

So as he did on Tuesday, Louis power walks through the rain on Wednesday morning. At least this day he’s not fifteen minutes early, but only five. 

Which he kind of regrets when he notices the young man and the little boy from the day before, standing at the bus stop in the exact same position as the day before. Like magic the little boy turns around on the broad shoulders and immediately spies Louis, while he’s arriving at the bus stop. Louis feels the smile widen once again on his face and the little boy actually claps in delight, which results in the young man also noticing Louis and turning around.

“Good morning,” he says, grin on his face and a deep dimple grazing his cheek. His voice is deep and reminds Louis of his warm blanket back home in his bed. He would definitely take this one back to his bed as well.

“Good morning to you,” Louis smiles back and waves to the little boy. “You two look right cozied up.”

The man’s grin seems only to grow and Louis feels his heart flutter in his chest. This is ridiculous. He doesn’t even know that man.

“Yeah, we have our system,” he says. “Where is your umbrella? You look a little wet there.” He smirks towards Louis and his knees become wobbly.

“I- I kind of lost it? I don’t know, I thought it would be in that cupboard but it obviously wasn’t.” He moves his hand sheepishly through his hair under the hood. 

“Well, lucky for you that the bus is coming now, right?” the young man fucking winks and turns towards the bus door. 

“Yeah, lucky me,” Louis mumbles and follows right behind, his eyes definitely not glued on that perky arse in front of him. 

They eventually find a space in the middle of the bus, standing smiling next to each other. 

“I’m really impressed with your umbrella holding. I think my arm would’ve fallen off by now,” Louis says, desperately trying to keep the conversation going. The other man shrugs.

“Actually I feel kind of exhausted, too. Come on, Connor,” he then mumbles towards the little boy and moves him until he’s comfortably sitting against the man’s hip and no longer on his shoulders.

“Hi there, Connor,” Louis grins holding his hand up for the little boy to high five him, which he does with a proud smile.

“You’re really good with kids, aren’t you?”

Louis blushes. “Yeah, I guess. Lots of younger siblings.” His eyes stay glued on the little boy, sticking his tongue out to make him laugh. Only then does he notice the dimple and the eyes. Something shatters inside of Louis, even though he kind of knew, that this boy had to be the man’s son. “Wow, you really look alike.”

He looks back up to the man who has a lovely blush on his cheeks. Has he been checking Louis out while he was distracted with Connor? No, definitely not.

“Erm,” the man clears his throat and tries again. “I mean, yes I think so. It’s all from my mum, really. We all look pretty alike.”

Hope grows inside Louis’ body, like a flower on a lovely spring day. “Oh,” he exclaims, trying to tone down his excitement. “I get that. Me and my siblings all have features from my mum as well. Pretty easy to see that we all belong together, you know? Cool, that you two get along to well then.”

The man’s eyebrows furrow a little, while he tries to stabilize Connor on his hip. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that a lot of people with so much younger siblings don’t really get the connection to them. A friend of mine got a little brother when he was seventeen and they never really connected. Which I personally don’t really understand. My baby siblings are two and I love them to death. I actually would love to live closer to them, you always kind of have the feeling to miss something.”

His smile turns a little sad with his thoughts wandering to Ernie and Doris. He hasn’t seen them in a few weeks, with them, his mum, stepdad and his other sisters living two hours away and he always fears that they might forget him. His mum always chastises him, when he opens up about his fears, convinced that they could never forget about their cool big brother. He should drive up north coming the next weekend.

“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that! Connor’s not my brother,” the deep voice pulls Louis out of his thoughts and his heart shatters once again. Bloody hope and bloody gorgeous man with pretty hair and pretty eyes and soft lips. Louis could’ve easily lived on without knowing that this man existed. 

Louis lifts his hands in apology. “Sorry, sorry! I just assumed… but of course you’re his father. I just thought - anyways. This is my stop, I have to leave!”

“Wha - wait!” he heard the man say after him but then Louis was already out the door, actually a stop too early, but he didn’t care. Maybe the fresh air would help him clear his thoughts from that pretty man. Also, the pouring rain makes a pretty nice background for his foul mood.

**

Louis doesn’t know how but he’s sure that the rain has become heavier during the night from Wednesday to Thursday. After he discovered the devastating truth about his future husband (namely that he had a son and was probably in a very happy, very committed relationship with someone else) he proceeded to whine to Niall, his favourite co-worker and best friend, about that until he had enough and then basically forced Louis to the nearest pub with him after work was done. And although that was pretty nice, since Louis and Niall hadn’t had a proper lad’s night in forever did it not change much about Louis’ mood in the next morning, when the rain hammering against his window reminded him of pretty men with pretty eyes and cute children. 

He makes his way towards the bus stop with his head burrowed in his thick scarf, the thick hood pulled way over his forehead, so only his eyes are peeking out between the layers of fabric. When he arrives at the bus stop with only three minutes to spare, Louis isn’t sure if he should be happy or even sadder that Pretty Man and Connor are nowhere to be seen. 

He's sulking, his eyes drawn down on his wet shoes and hopes that the bus could for once be a minute early. Until suddenly, the rain stops. Louis lifts his head, confused why he can clearly see that it’s raining still, but doesn’t feel it anymore. His eyes move further up until he can see the pretty rainbow umbrella above his head, held up by an arm that definitely doesn’t belong to him. He turns and embarrassingly gasps a little when he sees Pretty Man next to him, holding an umbrella over the two of them and grinning at him with a big dimpled smile.

“Good morning,” he says, obviously delighted to see Louis’ shocked face. 

“Hi, where is Connor?” Louis says, awkwardly pushing his hands deeper into his coat pockets.

“Back with his mum,” Pretty Man grins. “Who is my sister. Like, Connor is my nephew. I only had him for two nights because she was on a business trip and her husband still has a pretty ugly cold.”

Louis eyes are getting wider and wider with every word Pretty Man says. “So, nephew?” he finally asks and Pretty Man nods, curls flopping over his forehead. 

“I mean, just to clarify, because we were talking about it yesterday and… I didn’t want that you were under the impression of false information.”

“Obviously,” Louis nods, a smile spreading over his face. 

They are interrupted by the bus arriving and to Louis’ delight, does Pretty Man follow him like he did the other days. They move to the end of the bus, somehow creating a tiny private bubble. 

“Thank you for holding that umbrella for me,” Louis says after they spend two stops only staring and grinning at each other. This is a little surreal for him and he still kind of thinks that he’s in bed, dreaming. 

“No problem. I’ve been told that I have a talent for that.”

“Is that so?”

“Mhm,” Pretty Man nods sporting his own blush on his cheeks. “Oh, isn’t this your stop?”

Louis looks up and feels his ears getting hot. “To be honest, it’s not. I just felt the urge to flee yesterday because I thought Connor was your son and…”

Pretty Man has his hands behind his back, shuffling a little closer towards Louis, looking like innocence personified. “And?”

Louis laughs out a shaky breath, rolling his eyes. “And I was a little disappointed, because I have a feeling that I could really like you.”

The grin Pretty Man sends him, lets Louis believe that he said the right thing. “That’s convenient, because I kind of think so, too.”

They both get off the bus at the next stop and Harry (that’s Pretty Man’s actual name, although he was quite content with the name Louis gave him in his mind) proceeds to hold the umbrella over the both of them until they’ve reached Louis’ place of work. They part ways with a short but tight hug and Louis is not able to stop staring at his phone for the whole of his work day, impatiently waiting to make use of that new phone number saved in it.

**

To Harry: _hi! thanks again for giving me shelter from the rain! my best friend niall had mine btw, he gave it back to me at work! xx Louis from the bus_

From Harry: _hey Louis from the bus! glad i could help. as i said, i am pretty good with holding up umbrellas, so if you ever need some tips just let me know.. xx Harry (Pretty Man)_

To Harry: _that sounds good, actually. i have missed my umbrella for so long, i’m not sure i know all of the tricks anymore.. xxx Louis_

From Harry: _dont worry.. how about i help you? over dinner on saturday? text me your address and i come pick you up at seven?_

To Harry: _sounds perfect. and please bring your umbrella, you never know what might happen with mine until then_

From Harry: _was already planning on it.. xxx Harry_


End file.
